RAWALPINDI - September 5, 2015: Bahawalpur and Karachi Blues won their respective semi-finals of the Cool & Cool Present Haier Q8 T20 Cup 2015 played here at Pindi Stadium on Saturday.
As Bahawalpur stunned Lahore Blues in the first semi-final, Karachi Blues outplayed Quetta in the second when Duckworth Lewis Stern method was applied after rain stopped play.
Spirited Bahawalpur edged aside Lahore Blues by six wickets, thanks to Faisal Mubashir’s unbeaten half century.
Electing to bat, Lahore Blues posted 152 runs for eight wickets in 20 overs but Bahawalpur stunned one and all with their performance reaching the target for the loss of four wickets in 19.3 overs. The two match-winning partnerships and a half century were the base of Bahawalpur’s win, which Lahore was widely expected to have achieved. Bahawalpur openers Shahan Akram and Mohammad Yasir provided required opening wicket stand of 36 runs which was later developed to win by Faisal with his 51 not out. Shahan hit two fours and the same number of sixes in his 19-ball 22 while his opening partner Yasir took 13 balls to reach 24, studded with four fours and a six. After Yasir was back in the pavilion in the fourth over, thanks to the combined effort of pace Ataullah and Sami Aslam, Faisal came in to hold the fort for Bahawalpur. Faisal in his 37 balls gathered match-winning 51 that came with the help of four fours and a six. Aaqib Javed and Moinuddin contributed useful 13 runs each and Faisal then held a 23 runs partnership with Kamran Hussain who added 27 runs to the winning total and remained not out. Qaiser Ashraf, Salman Agha and Raza Ali Dar were the other Lahore bowlers who took one wicket each.
Lahore Blues, on their part had a very healthy opening partnership between Imam-ul-Haq and Sami Aslam. After they developed 56 runs for the first wicket in Lahore’s 152 runs, none of the later coming batsmen played sensibly. Imam got 39 on board while Sami had 35. To some extent Mohammad Akhlaq with 26 runs was prominent otherwise Abid Ali 10, Fahad-ul-Haq 15 and Adnan Akmal 10 remained below par in their approach.
Mohammad Imran and Shahan did the main damage with two wickets each while Zahir Siddiqui, Yasir and Moin compounded Lahore’s poor show with one wicket apiece.
In the second semi-final, Karachi Blues completed an 18 runs rout of Quetta relying on Duckworth Lewis Stern method and two half centuries from Khalid Latif and Fawad Alam. Karachi slashed 184 runs for four in the given quota of overs while Quetta could muster 56 runs for three in eight overs in their chase when rain stopped play.
Asked to bat first, Karachi Blues played with an average of over nine runs an over. Khurrum Manzoor and Shahzaib Hasan laid a solid foundation for Karachi. Later Khalid and Fawad developed in further to a position from where Karachi could hope for a positive result. Khurrum and Shahzaib scored 62 runs for the opening wicket. Khurrum hit 36 runs in 28 balls, hitting seven fours while Shahzaib made 29 runs with the help of six boundaries and in the process he faced 17 balls.
Shahzaib was the first to leave the crease and after an addition of 10 runs, Khurram followed suit. From there on Khalid and Fawad put Quetta bowlers to the sword. As Khurram managed 54 runs in 39 balls, hammering eight shots across the rope and one over it, Fawad produced 50 in 29 balls. He had seven fours and a six to his credit. Before they were back in the dressing room, they had fulfilled the job at hand. Afterwards, three batsmen, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sami, who remained not out and Sarfraz Ahmed together scored 14 runs. Jalat Khan was the pick of Quetta bowlers, getting three wickets including the prized scalps of Shahzaib and Khalid. Sher Hasan and Mohibullah shared one wicket apiece.
In their chase for the big ask, Quetta could not find an innings that was required to win a match and the conditions also did not favour them. Bismahullah Khan started off on a positive note but his partner Zubair Khan had a jittery approach. Zubair was stumped by Sarfraz for 16 runs off Shahzaib’s bowling, Quetta lost Mohibullah in the very next over. Fall of two quick wickets at 49 left Quetta reeling but Bismillah did his best to maintain the average. When he reached 32 runs Anwar Ali got him leaving Quetta at 56 for three. Ismaeel Khan and Arun Lal were at the crease when the heavens opened and Duckworth Lewis Stern method was applied. At that point in time Quetta were at 56 for three in eight overs but the revised score allowed Karachi get an easy win.
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